This invention relates to a pouched lottery ticket and to a method for dispensing the lottery tickets.
Lottery tickets are well known and widely sold and generally comprise a sheet material of paper or card stock on which is printed lottery information and various indicia for the playing of one or more games. Many such games are instant win type games where the player can xe2x80x9cplayxe2x80x9d the game or games by carrying out various functions. Such lottery tickets generally include information such as ticket numbers which identify the ticket for the purposes of security and control.
One practice which has become prevalent in Canada is to sell such lottery tickets in a pouch which is formed from two layers which are sealed around the edge of the pouch so that the lottery ticket is sandwiched between the two layers.
This technique provides a number of advantages as follows:
a) The sealing of the lottery ticket within a closed pouch allows increased security for maintaining integrity of the ticket.
b) The pouch provides a higher perceived value for the product without significantly increasing the cost of production. This allows in many cases the product to be purchased as a gift.
c) The pouch allows the ticket to be more complex including a number of different sheets so as to increase the variety and number of games which can be played on the ticket.
d) The layers forming the pouch can be metalized so as to provide a highly attractive appearance carrying bold colors and a high level of promotional information.
e) The ticket contained within the pouch can be of a single sheet or can be folded multiple sheet as required.
f) The pouches also have a clear window allowing bar code verification by reading the bar code printed on the ticket within the pouch.
The dimensions of the pouch are generally between 3xc2xd and 4 inches wide and of the order of 5 to 6 inches in length.
These pouches have achieved significant success in the Canadian marketplace. However the pouches have not been available up till now in U.S.A. and therefore the U.S. marketplace has not had the advantages as set forth above which enable a significant increase in sales of this product.
In the U.S. marketplace lottery tickets are often sold in a vending machine in which the lottery tickets form from simple paper stock are printed and formed in a row with the paper stock perforated transversely to form a continuous row of tearable lottery tickets.
It is on object of the present invention to provide an improved lottery ticket product particularly designed for the U.S. marketplace which provides the advantages of the above pouch product.
According to one aspect of the invention there is provided an apparatus for use in a lottery comprising:
a plurality of ticket portions each formed by substantially flat substrate sheet material having lottery indicia printed thereon;
a plurality of pouches each surrounding and containing a respective one of the ticket portions;
each pouch comprising an upper flat layer and a bottom flat layer with the ticket portion sandwiched between the layers;
the layers being connected along side edges thereof by at least one longitudinal seal and being connected at a front transverse edge by a first transverse seal and a rear transverse edge by a second transverse seal so as to fully envelop the ticket portion;
the pouches being arranged in a single row such that the rear edge of one pouch is attached to the front edge of a next adjacent pouch at a junction therebetween and such that the upper flat layer and the bottom flat layer are substantially continuous along the row;
each junction between the pouches having arranged across the pouches at the junction a row of perforations through the upper and bottom flat layers to allow torn separation of one pouch from the next;
the row of pouches being folded along each of the rows of perforations with the fold at the front edge of each pouch being in a direction opposite to the fold at the rear edge of each pouch so that the pouches lie each on top of and parallel to the next.
The layers may be formed from a plastics material of a type which allows the seals to be formed simply by heat sealing, however other materials may be used, for example paper/polyethylene laminated to polyethylene and other methods of sealing such as cold sealing can be used.
Preferably the length of each pouch from the row of perforations at the front edge to the row of perforations at the rear edge is consistent with the length of each of the other pouches to a tolerance less than 0.1 inch and preferably the tolerance is less than 0.005 inch.
Preferably the transverse seal at the front edge of one pouch forms a common single transverse seal with the seal at the rear edge of the next adjacent pouch and wherein the row of perforations is arranged in the common seal.
Preferably the apparatus includes tear means for initiating a tear in the pouch at a position adjacent to but spaced longitudinally from one of the seals at the front and rear edges.
Preferably the tear means has a strength relative to the row of perforations such that longitudinal pulling of the pouches adjacent the tear means causes separation by tearing of the row of perforations without effecting tearing at the tear means.
Preferably, at a junction between one pouch and a next adjacent pouch in the row of pouches, the upper layer and the bottom layer are separated between the pouches and the pouches are joined by a strip of tape adhesively attached across the pouches at the junction, the strip being perforated at the junction. This allows pouches which become separated by error or in order to change the sequence to be re-joined.
Preferably each ticket portion of the row of pouches has a ticket number with the ticket numbers being consecutive from a first pouch in the row to a last pouch in the row.
Preferably each ticket portion of the row of pouches carries a book number which is the same number for each ticket portion of the row.
According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a method of dispensing tickets for use in a lottery comprising:
providing a plurality of ticket portions each formed by substantially flat substrate sheet material having lottery indicia printed thereon;
providing a plurality of pouches each surrounding and containing a respective one of the ticket portions;
each pouch comprising an upper flat layer and a bottom flat layer with the ticket portion sandwiched between the layers;
connecting the layers along side edges thereof by at least one longitudinal seal and connected at a front transverse edge by a first transverse seal and a rear transverse edge by a second transverse seal so as to fully envelop the ticket portion;
arranging the pouches in a single row such that the rear edge of one pouch is attached to the front edge of a next adjacent pouch at a junction therebetween and such that the upper flat layer and the bottom flat layer are substantially continuous along the row;
providing at each junction between the pouches across the pouches at the junction a row of perforations through the upper and bottom flat layers to allow torn separation of one pouch from the next;
folding the row of pouches along each of the rows of perforations with a fold at the front edge of each pouch being in a direction opposite to a fold at the rear edge of each pouch so that the pouches lie each on top of and parallel to the next;
locating the row of folded pouches in a dispensing machine and dispensing from the machine at least one pouch, said at least one pouch being torn at the row of perforations thereof from a remaining portion of the row of pouches.
Preferably the row of perforations is arranged such that the row of pouches has sufficient strength to pass through the dispensing machine and such that it is sufficiently tearable that the pouches can be readily separated by manual or automatic tearing.
Preferably the rows of perforations are arranged such that the strength of each row is substantially consistent with that of the next row.
Preferably the length of each pouch from the row of perforations at the front edge to the row of perforations at the rear edge is consistent with the length of each of the other pouches to a tolerance less than 0.1 inch.
Preferably the tolerance is less than 0.005 inch.
Preferably the transverse seal at the front edge of one pouch forms a common single transverse seal with the seal at the rear edge of the next adjacent pouch and wherein the row of perforations is arranged in the common seal.
Preferably the method includes providing tear means for initiating a tear in the pouch at a position adjacent to but spaced longitudinally from one of the seals at the front and rear edges.
Preferably the tear means has a strength relative to the row of perforations such that longitudinal pulling of the pouches adjacent the tear means causes separation by tearing of the row of perforations without effecting tearing at the tear means.
Preferably the method includes separating at least two pouches by tearing at the row of perforations at the junction therebetween and joining a first pouch to a second pouch by a strip of tape adhesively attached across the first and second pouches at the junction, the strip of tape being perforated at the junction.
Preferably the strip is cut from a portion of a continuous tape which is perforated longitudinally.
Preferably each ticket portion of the row of pouches has a ticket number and wherein the pouches are separated and joined such that the ticket numbers are consecutive from a first pouch in the row to a last pouch in the row.
One embodiment of the invention will now be described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: